Your daddy's gone...

At my age I find more and more people who have lost their fathers. It’s a common practice in Christianity to repeatedly compare our earthly father (fallible, maybe even evil) to our Heavenly Father (eternal, perfect). Well, as an earthly father myself, I pray that some of these lines may find themselves rather blurred over time. I hope to have instilled many Godly attributes and ideals into my children before leaving this planet and entering into my eternal reward.

I agree that it is important, no matter how wonderful a dad is, to help our children realize that he is a mere mortal  and won’t always be here. Hopefully he has served to represent One who will never depart from us. As a parent it is ultimately my calling to let go of my children and allow them to walk before (and hopefully) with God.

I can’t help but notice how many times I’ve used the terms hope and hopefully here. Normally I proofread and change such repetitions. Not tonight. My message here is one of hope. Not the kind of Hope found in a Good Ole Christian Sermon, but my hope. I’m hoping here.

I’m hoping that everyone who reads this knows their Heavenly Father and not some synthetic, monstrous variation or hybrid or mish mash of religious goo-goo muck that only serves to confuse and alienate.

I’m hoping that dads reading this have risen to the call of fatherhood and realize that it inhabits far more than a football game or a trip to a strip club. I hope you know that you are the spiritual leader of your home and it is what you bring to your family’s table that will be remembered for years to come. And handed down to your grandkids, great grandkids and…

I’m hoping that those of you who have already lost their fathers were well served by their spiritual example and if not, I hope you have begun to “parent” yourself and allow the Father who never dies to adopt you and raise you proper.

Lastly, to those I had in mind when I wrote, YOUR DADDY’S GONE, a celebration of the death of an abusive parent, I hope you are allowing the healing love of Christ to mend your soul. I hope you of all people have accepted the provision God made for you in Christ and have not only accepted your eternal salvation but your immediate and ongoing healing.

Your heart matters. Your voice counts. Your future cries to be fulfilled. God made you and no matter what you suffered at the had of your earthly father, no matter what any of us have suffered or what suffering we may have caused, Father God is bigger, badder and better than anything we can imagine, conceive, fathom or hope for.

I’m hoping for healing, redemption, education, example and most of all patience as these are hard to come by yet easily missed. Look in the mirror and promise yourself you will live long enough to be free. Look at each other and promise to be faithful to pray for and forgive one another’s errors and shortcomings.

After all, we’re merely humans who were raised, trained and educated by the same. No wonder we turned out incomplete. It’s time to turn to God. It’s time to accept Jesus so God accepts us. Don’t blame the messenger, that’s what His plan is not mine.

“If I had a wish then there would be no sides…”  Maria Mckee, REFLECTED (ON MY SIDE)

But there are sides. Many of us have suffered on the human side. No sense suffering on the eternal. 

Here’s hoping you’ll consider Jesus…

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